Bad Blood
by Lily1986
Summary: Five times that Ward saves the team and the one time that they save him.


**A.N:** I've been listening to way too much Taylor Swift lately. My apologies.

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><p><strong>I.<strong>

The first time it happens, she could have sworn she saw him. But in all fairness, bullets were flying and she really doubted that he would be there. He was free. There was no reason for him to be hanging around them. He got what he wanted.

They'd heard about the arrests that were made. His brother was going to prison for a long time. In her mind, she imagined him on a beach somewhere… gloating. Not here.

Skye forced her eyes open despite the pain. The bullet had gone straight through her. It wasn't the first time she'd been shot, but it still hurt every time.

He was crouching right in front of her. Except it wasn't him. Not as she last saw him. The face in front of hers was one that she trusted. He was clean shaven and his hair was short. He looked just like he did when they'd first met.

"Ward?"

But that person didn't exist. He was never real. Except he was real enough to carry her in his arms and get her out of a building full of hostiles.

When the team finds her later, with her wounds wrapped in a man's white shirt, she doesn't know how to explain it. What could she say? That a ghost saved her? They wouldn't believe her anyway.

**II.**

Fitz, Simmons and Mack were instructed to stay on the bus and not open the door to anyone. Coulson did not leave any instructions for what to do if anyone tried to break the doors down though. Mack would try to protect them but he didn't have any fighting skills. He couldn't keep them safe, even if he wanted to.

Simmons grabbed her fire extinguisher and Fitz picked up a nearby ICER. Mack was holding a giant wrench in his hand.

The pounding on the other side had since stopped. No one was trying to get into the plane now.

Mack carefully opened the hangar and snapped his neck toward the two scientists.

"What the hell… I think they're dead."

Fitz and Simmons walked toward him and looked outside to find the men who'd been trying to get into the plane unconscious. One of them was twitching.

"They're alive." Simmons spoke up before going back into what used to be her lab. "Help me find rope to tie them up before they wake up."

Mack looked over his shoulder and followed her lead. "You think they beat each other up?"

Simmons looked up at him and shook her head. "Definitely not. But I don't want to think about what or who could have been out there right now."

"Fair enough." Mack mumbled before they started tying them up together.

**III.**

When Bobbi and Lance are miraculously saved, they don't even notice. They're too busy fighting with each other to notice that their enemies are taken down all around them.

It isn't until they stop fighting long enough that they realize they're alone.

"Did you do this?" Lance asks.

Bobbi narrows her eyes. "I thought you did it."

"I didn't do this!"

"Then who the hell did?"

And that starts an entirely new argument that May later has to break up… again.

**IV.**

Coulson and May are undercover on another mission like the one in Miami. Except this one doesn't include any dancing.

But they do get into some trouble like always.

May was caught off guard and Coulson needs to get them out of there. He doesn't know how to though. That was always May's job. She was the specialist.

So when someone appears in front of him, Coulson's first instinct is to fight. He wants to protect May. He needs to keep her safe. But they aren't being attacked. It's the opposite. He's helping them.

"Why?" Coulson asks softly.

He doesn't answer.

And he's gone as quickly as he appeared.

When the team asks him for details later, he keeps them to himself. He still doesn't understand what just happened.

**V.**

Trip and Skye are paired up for a mission. There's nothing unusual about it. Coulson's paired them up before. But this time, May's not going with them. They're on their own for the first time.

They're supposed to break into a Hydra facility so that she can hack her way into files they need to find this mysterious city Coulson is searching for. She's not really confident it's a good idea considering all the close calls they've had lately but she still feels pretty safe all things considered.

She's typing on the keyboard in front of her as fast as she can with Trip leaning over her. This feels a little like déjà vu but it wasn't Trip that was watching her back the last time she did this. And they were following Centipede back then, not Hydra.

"You almost done there?"

She nods before hitting one final keystroke. "Done. Let's go."

But when they're trying to get out, they get caught. It's only the two of them against so many soldiers. She's gotten good at hand to hand combat but she's not May. And Trip can't save them both all on his own.

When arms wrap around her, she screams. But just as quickly as they were there, they're gone. She turns around to find the distorted face of her attacker as he slumps to the ground with his neck twisted at an odd angle. She looks up to find the familiar face of her would be savior.

His eyes are wild. He killed a man in front of her and she can't seem to find that disgust that she used to feel. She doesn't understand it. All she knows is that he saved her. He's been saving all of them.

When Trip calls out her name, she looks over her shoulder at the general direction he is calling from.

"Ward…" she turns back to where he was just standing only to find that he's already gone. She's alone, except she's not because Trip is already at her side. But she's never felt more alone.

**I.**

The first time they save him, it's unexpected.

Her father is trying to get to her. He wants to hurt the ones that she loves. He's already gone after the team. But when her father goes after him, there's no one there to protect him. And he doesn't stand a chance. She imagines that he was caught off guard.

Looking at him now in a dark cellar, tied to a table and weak, something spurs within her. She's at his side trying to rip open the binds that have him tied to the steel table. His skin is ice cold and his lips are cracked. They've been torturing him. She knows it.

Coulson is at his other side already ripping the binds on his other wrist and ankle. She looks up and locks eyes with her leader who swiftly nods at her. It takes Mack, Lance and Trip to carry his slumped body to the bus.

Simmons' medical training kicks in as soon as she sees him and wastes no time in getting an IV in his arm. Fitz is already pulling out a box of belongings that have long since been hidden in a closet of what used to be their lab. Trip is helping him put on a shirt without getting in Simmons' way.

May is already getting the plane into the air and Bobbi and Lance are guarding the hanger while Mack and Trip assist Simmons as best they could. They need to hold him down because he is shaking and freaking out, not entirely sure where he is at the moment.

Once he's sedated, Coulson allows her to stay by his side. She wouldn't have left anyway. She didn't owe him anything but she felt that it was the right thing to do.

When his eyes open, she jumps up to get him water. She quickly pours him a glass and helps him to take small sips. The harder questions will come later. What happened? How long have you been there? What did they do to you?

Right now, he gets to ask one question.

"Why?" his voice is hoarse.

She imagines this is what he must have sounded like after May fractured his larynx.

"You would have done the same for us."

It's the truth. They don't owe him anything. But it was the right thing to do. And for the first time in a long time, Skye feels like she's finally fighting on the right side of this war.


End file.
